When Fire Meets the Light
by actress65
Summary: Leo is sick and tired of being the seventh wheel, so goes out to search for the the daughter of Apollo that's supposed to change that, but what he doesn't know is that it won't only change his life but hers.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1, Leo

My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. I turned around and saw the creepy serpent lady, apparently one of Medusa's sisters, still hot on my trail," Stop running Leo Valdez! You know it's pointless!" she cackled as she got a little closer. The woods were hard to run in so she must be having a hard time catching up to me; I was always a fast runner so that helped.

I pulled a monkey wrench out of my magical tool belt," Go die in a hole!" I threw the wrench; it hit her square in the face,_ bulls' eye!_ Golden blood, ichor the blood of gods or monsters, flowed from her nose. She laughed," Oh you've already killed me in a hole…Twice!"

Yeah every time I killed this crazy lady in a couple of minutes she'd come back to life! It was a major god's sized pain the butt. I prayed to Hephaestus that it wasn't the doors of death; it was just a year ago that we'd stopped Gaea from rising. The doors of death were one of the major things we had to get rid of to keep her from rising.

I was so caught up in thought I didn't see the bushes in front of me. I tripped over them and landed flat on my face. I looked up and saw the road, not that it made much of a difference. The snake lady was about to kill me and I was too tired to do anything about it.

_This is such a stupid way to die__._ That was my last thought before I blacked out.

Chapter 2, Emma

I was listening to the radio driving to my apartment in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was a bright sunny day in June 16th and I remembered my birthday was just in a week, I was going to turn seventeen.

I looked out of the window of my car, a boy, around my age stumbled into a clearing and collapsed. I slammed onto the brakes, and rushed out of my car. I got over to him and checked to see if he was still breathing… I heard a rapid _thump, thump_, like he'd just run a marathon and then some.

The guy looked like a Latino elf with curly hair, and was a mechanic. He had a tool belt, _why I had no idea_, and an army jacket.

I figured I better get him into the car. Then I realized,_ I don't even know this guy why should I help him…well I can't just leave him here to die._ I sighed," I know I'm going to regret this." I muttered to myself. After what felt like hours, I finally dragged him into my car. He looked scrawny but **GEEZ **he's heavier than he looks. I went back into the clearing to find out if I left anything, and I heard a hiss.

Immediately I bolted to my car. I drove as fast as I could but not before I saw a snake lady. As odd as these sounds, this isn't the first time I've seen something weird. Like on day I was walking in the park and I saw some guy with one eye! Then another time, I was sitting on the roof of my apartment building and I saw a flying horse!

I tried to clear my mind as I listened to my favorite radio station, 100.9. The song Arms, by Christine Perrie, came on and I relaxed.

I dragged the guy in and the guy at the front desk, Ron, didn't even notice me dragging an unconscious guy in. I finally got over to the elevator, and balanced him across the wall in there.

I got into my apartment and laid him on my couch," You better be worth my trouble." I muttered to him, sat on the edge of the couch," I'm in too much pain to be dead." He said. I couldn't stop my arm as it slapped him in the face," Stupid reactions." I said as I face palmed myself. I looked at him and noticed all of the tiny cuts and bruises on him. I started to clean them and put Band-Aids on him.

I rubbed my eyes and walked into my room. I turned on my T.V. and popped in my favorite movie, Phantom of the Opera. I sang the in harmony with the move and looked at the newspapers that were scattered on the wall.

Then there was the bronze bow that had sun designs that I'd found. It also had unlimited arrows, that was the only thing I had when I woke up from my… I sighed at the thought of it and looked at the newspapers.

_**Emma Rose has just woke up from her 8 year coma**__**.**_

Chapter 3, Leo

I woke up and remembered some girl who'd slapped me in the face… **WAIT A SECOND!** Holy Hephaestus, I'm alive! I sat up and looked at myself through the mirror,_ yes! My good looks have not faded... Even with all of the Band AIDs._

I heard somebody singing in the other room; the last time I heard some body that sang that good was, _Calypso…_ My stomach tightened at the thought of her.

_Stop thinking about her! You will find her one day but you have a different mission._ I thought as I remembered Rachel Dare telling me about how a daughter of Apollo would change me being alone. That was when I set out to find her. I shook my head at the thought, and went to find the girl singing.

I opened a door and saw the girl," You aren't half bad." I said, the girl nearly jumped out of her socks, "Don't do that!" she turned off the T.V. I laughed," I'm Leo, Leo Valdez." She said tucking a piece of hair behind her ear," Emma, Emma Rose." I sat down on the bed," So Emma Rose, what do have to eat I'm starving." She said putting her hands into her sweatshirt pockets," Do you like tacos?" I nodded like maniac.

Emma went to go get the tacos, when she came back she asked," What happened to you?" I said mysteriously," If I told you you'd think I'm crazy," Then I laughed," And I don't want people to think I'm crazier than I really am." She smiled," Okay I won't push it. So how old are you?" I replied," Seventeen, how old are you?"" Sixteen, about to turn seventeen."

I absently ran my fingers through my hair, which does nothing I just think it's cool. I realized the tacos were getting cold. I wolfed down the tacos, I saw Emma get up," I'll take the plates." With that she scoped up the plates and left into the kitchen.

I could tell she was shy just by that brief conversation. I didn't realize it but I was tapping on the table! I know that may not seem like that big of a deal but I haven't tapped on really anything since seeing Calypso. I can still remember her wavy caramel brown hair, her red top, and her beautiful voice…

"Open up." Said a strong voice, I walked over to the door, "Who is it." I asked, the voice replied," Open up!" I scratched my chin," I don't know any, Open ups."

**BANG!** Went the door as somebody busted it down, I jumped up and pulled a hammer out of my tool belt. Emma came running out of the kitchen with was that a Celestial Bronze bow and arrows?

Then a biker guy walked in," Fine, you really want to know who I am,"_ no,_ was my first thought," I'm _Ares_." Emma looked confused," You mean the _Ares __as in ancient god of war Ares__?"_ He crossed his arms and asked menacingly," Yes. Now Hermes was busy so the job fell to me to deliver a message from anonymous. There are hell hounds a couple miles out so you better get going."

Emma said gasping," But I can't leave here all of my-""Look kid let me put this nicely, get your stuff and get out before I make you." She bit her lip and headed into her room. I followed her," For the record I don't think he said that very nicely-""I heard that!" he yelled, I could feel his glare coming through the walls," Sorry!" I yelled back.

Emma smiled a little, and I realized something," Hey you could see him." She tilted her head to the side," Yeah, is that weird?" I nodded," That probably means you're a demigod." She shook her head in confusion," A demi- what?" I tried to explain the best I could and as fast as I could consider we were on a time frame.

After we got all of her stuff packed up she sighed," That's a lot to take in." I nodded," Yup. I kind of had a brain fart when I was told that." Ares gave me a weird creepy smile," I would better get going if I were you, the hell hounds aren't that far out." We nodded and ran to the elevator.

We got in the car and I hopped into the driver's seat, I thought about what would be a good place to blend in," Em? Do you know any places that are crowded?" she didn't have to take a second thought," Busch Gardens." I asked when we were on the highway," What's that a huge butterfly garden?" she shook her head," Nope, it's a theme park." _That got my attention._

Chapter 4, Emma

Leo's eyes instantly lit up when I said that. I turned and faced the window. This has probably been the longest conversation that I've ever had with somebody! Leo was really funny; I bet he could put a positive spin on anything you throw at him.

I can't believe how fast things have changed in my life, one minute I'm doing the dishes the next I find out I'm a demigod! It was most likely, though, the coolest day of my life.

I showed Leo where to turn off and I remembered something," Leo you don't have a pass." He smiled a smile that would make any teacher say," Don't you even think about it!" and put his seat at the front of the classroom.

We parked in the England parking lot and I didn't notice that Leo was making, what was that a silver bird? He said," Don't worry about me having a pass just when I say run, run." _Uh oh. This can't be good._ I thought to myself. We got to the gate and right before we had to put in our pass, an explosion behind us happened-"**RUN!**" yelled Leo.

He grabbed my hand and we ran over the gates. It felt like sparks flew up my arm as we were running but eventually we stopped. I was really out of breath, but after I managed to catch it I told him," Was that your bird?" he nodded and smiled mischievously," Yup." I replied," I hope it didn't hit anyone."

I walked over to a billboard that had a map of the park, "So Leo where do you want to go first?" He studied the map, "Uh what about France?" I smiled," Okay, let's ride the Griffin."

Before we started to walk there I thought I heard him mutter," I hate those."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 5, Leo

_This place is awesome!_ I thought to myself as we were walking. I instantly thought about my mom, she would have been in heaven… of course she already was. My dad must have had a hand in this place, there was no possible way he could have missed it.

Emma's hair was waving slightly, I sighed. Emma looked over," Is something wrong?" I shook my head," Oh- uh no. I'm just looking at how cool these roller coasters are." _**STUPID! STUPID!**_ I yelled at myself, why do I have to fall in love with girls that are way out of my league?

We got into France and I saw this huge roller coaster. I've never really been a big fan of heights; well maybe it's the legend of my dad literally being thrown off Olympus. I pointed to roller coaster," Are we going on that one?" she nodded and said smugly," What are you scared?"

I shook my head," What psst, no. I've done way scarier things." _If only she knew the half of it__._ We got into the line and there wasn't too long we'd have to wait, by the looks of it. I looked over at Emma, she looked like a statue.

"Emma? Hello, anyone in there?" I started to freak out a little, her green eyes looked glazed over and she had an iron grip on the rail. I shook her," Come on Em!" _why do these things have to happen to me?_

Suddenly her eyes closed and opened again," Leo!" I eyed her closely;" Yeah?" she shook her head," Oh sorry, its nothing." I knew she said that a little too fast. I gently pried her fingers off the railing," Okay because you kind of phased out there for a second," I wanted to change subject things were getting a little weird for me, and that was saying something, "Oh and we are next in line."

She smiled, and obviously liked the subject change. We took our places on the ride and strapped in," Are you ready?" she asked me. I replied," Oh yeah." Then the ride started.

My knuckles were turning white from gripping the hand holds. When we got to the top the ride stopped I asked Emma, "Is it-""Yes, just wait for it." Then the ride did a straight drop.

I must have left my stomach back at the loading zone, because I couldn't scream and clutching onto the restraints was the only way I kept from puking. After we were done I stumbled out onto a bench. Emma walked over and said excited," Do you want to go again?"" No!"

After that we had a great day riding coasters (and not vomiting.) Then, when we were at Oktoberfest I was looking at some fire towels," Leo! Look out!" yelled Emma.

If I'd have ducked a millisecond later I would have been hell hound bait. I rolled to the sit and threw the cash holder that was right next to me," Thanks Em." I said as we started to run towards the exit.

" No time for that let's go!" She grabbed my hand and we sprinted for the exit, which was unfortunately all the way at the front, we were at the back.

Every couple of seconds a new hell hound would get on our trail, and then I'd shoot a hammer at it. We were in Ireland and we stopped for a quick breather. Then I saw a hell hound on top of one of the building, I warned Emma a little too late.

It landed on top of her and she screamed," Get **OFF** me, you stupid mutt!" I heard a scream of pain as it clawed her leg; I shot a sludge hammer at it that knocked it off," Bulls' eye!" I said as it hit it. I ran over to her and ripped some of my shirt sleeve off to soak up the blood.

Her wound wasn't good it was pretty deep; she was going to need some healers. I immediately thought about the Apollo healers at Camp Half-Blood. She refused to look at it," Is it bad?" I tried to make the situation a little less worrying," I've seen worse."

I helped her up and put her arm around my shoulder, "Emma which way is the exit?" she pointed weakly at the far gateway, "It's that way."

_HOLY HERA! _I thought, _this would be a crappy way to die I mean I've faced tons crazier stuff than this, but now I absolutely have to win because of Emma._ I looked down at her," You ready?" she shook her head," Look there are more hell hounds surrounding us."

The she said quieter," Leo I can do something that can help us get out of here." I was about to ask her what it was when her eyes became dark and I felt the light fading, no I mean literally.

"Am I dead?" I asked to an empty space then I remembered that I was still holding onto Emma. I heard her whisper," No Leo you aren't dead now walk straight forwards and shoot a hammer or something at one o'clock." I threw a hammer where she told me and sure enough I heard a slight _poof_, as the monster exploded into dust.

"Can you see?" I asked her," Yes, now keep walking straight." She urged, and I headed in the direction. The light was starting to come back and I could see her forehead beaded with sweat," Leo I can't keep this up much longer." She said, her voice had pain in it. I smiled," I can handle a couple of hell hounds."

Now I all the light was coming back, _first time in my life that had been a bad thing_. I set her down after we got out and surprisingly there were no crowds. I heard I snarl and a hell hound was less than twenty feet away from me. I tried to get a hammer out of my belt but it had to recharge, so I shot a fireball at it and sat down next to her.

"You- can-fire-what?" she stammered. I laughed," Geez you're worried about that?" she stared at me like she was afraid I might shot a fireball at her. _Dang It! Scared another person away__._ I thought to myself.

Chapter 6, Emma

Leo was **FREAKING AWESOME!** There was no way I'd ever get him to notice me, first off. He can shoot fire, he's a demigod, he's saved my life multiple times in the last hour, and he's is the first person ever to talk to me.

He gave me some ambrosia, apparently it heals up but if you eat too much you burn up into flames, maybe that's why you don't see many fat gods.

Then he splinted my leg," Man you're a mess." He said, I smiled a little. His curly brown hair glinted with sweat and he helped me up," Okay no more theme parks. Now we need to go to Camp Half-Blood." I nodded. A faint drizzle had started

When we got to the car, thankfully without any more hell hound encounters, we hoped in and Leo started to drive. A thought crossed my head," Hey Leo?"" Hmm." He replied. I asked him," Ares said you are a demigod, who are you the son of?" he kept his eyes on the road," Hephaestus." I tapped nervously," Who do you think is my parent?" he thought for a second," I don't know maybe Apollo."

Then he turned to me and asked arching an eyebrow," So what was the deal when you phased out there at the Griffin?" I said awkwardly," _I saw the future_." He eyed me carefully, "What'd you see?"" A hell hound right behind, then you and I were running."

"So how long have you been able to do that?" he asked, I decided I told somebody my secret," Since my coma." He pulled the car over," Coma?" the drizzle had turned into a downpour.

I nodded," Yeah when I was eleven I came down with a coma, when I woke up I apparently was seventeen. I expected to find to find my mom and my older sister, Liza, instead I found doctors and they told me my mom and sister had died. They never told me how though. I managed to make it through life for a year but I kept on seeing strange things, I'd always dismissed it as hallucinating from the coma…Until you came along."

Talking about Liza and mom since the coma had been a touchy subject; I opened the car needing fresh air. I don't know why but I liked the rain, I felt myself starting to cry. I Leo's hand on my shoulder," It's going to be okay." He whispered.

Then I noticed something, you know the song be Adele? I Set Fire to Rain? Well he was literally doing that. I don't know why but I hugged him, I guess being alone all this time I needed somebody.

It was weird because he didn't push me away when I hugged him. We just stood there in the rain for gods know how long. He finally said," We better get you into the car; it's been a rough day for you." I managed a weak laugh as I wiped a tear from my eye," That's an understatement."

Chapter 7, Leo

I got the feeling that Emma hadn't told anyone else that. I looked at her curled up in the back seat, she as humming quietly in her seat. I realized that I was absently tapping on the wheel. I stopped myself and listened to her tune, I was almost sad when she woke up.

"Have a good nap sleeping beauty?" I asked her. She sat up in her seat," Uh…yeah it was great." She said, tapping on the seat. _Ironically, she was tapping my mom's and I morose code for I love you._ I looked out of the window and saw a sign,_ Welcome to Long Island Sound!_  
We needed some gas, so I stopped at one that wasn't too far away from the Camp. I also had to go, like_ really bad._ I parked the car and ran into the restroom, and I hoped I wasn't doing the potty dance.

When I got in I immediately regret it, it was so disgusting going lumberjack style would have been cleaner than this. There was mold hanging off the toilet, the light bulb had moths flying around it, the walls had tons of graffiti on it, and was that dried blood on the ground?

I was at the door when I heard a gurgling sound come from the toilet; it sounded like," Leo?" Gurgle. Gurgle. "Leo is you there?" I cautiously walked over to the toilet, _was this normal for gas station toilets?_ I looked inside," Yes…," I realized it was an Iris message, I saw," Hazel? What are you doing in the toilet?" She rolled her eyes and replied," I'm calling from camp; there are tons of monsters surrounding camp. I had a dream that you were coming. So I called."

I smiled, "Aww. You thought about me." Then I realized something," That's got to be a lot of monsters to surround Camp Jupiter." She sighed," Frank and I aren't at Camp Jupiter." It hit me," Oh." I heard a voice say," If you want to talk for another minute throw a drachma into the mist."

Hazel waved and gave a look, _good luck._ I headed out of the bathroom, and hopped back into the car. Emma was looking at a bow," Hey where'd you get that?" She gripped it and said," I found it when I woke up." Somehow I didn't think she meant when she woke up this morning.

She slung the sheath on and held the bow," I have a feeling I might need this." She said to me. I nodded," Camp here we come."

Chapter 8, Emma

We were making small talk when this weird bat thing landed on the hood of my car! I think Leo yelled," It's a Furry! Run!" then I realized he said Fury, I started running and he was right behind me pushing me.

Leo pulled me behind a bush," Okay I'm going to distract it. You get inside the gates." I shook my head," No!-"" Oh trust me I've done way crazier things in my life than this." He laughed. I believed him when he said that and I pulled out an arrow," Be careful." He shrugged and gave me a crazy grin," Can't make any promises."

I ran up a hill and felt like I had somebody following me. I turned and I saw a fifteen year old kid, He looked Italian and was really pale, had a dark sword, even though it was the middle of summer he had on a leather jacket, and had a sad and far-away look in his eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked aiming an arrow at him. He stepped out and had his hand on his black sword like he might have to use it any minute_," I'm Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."_ He gestured for me to lower my bow," I'm Emma Rose." He nodded and asked," Where's Leo?" I looked back," Went to go take on that Fury."

Nico muttered some curses," Well that was a stupid thing to do." This guy was seriously creeping me out, and strangely I was also really curious too. After a long silence I head Leo screaming like a sailor, he was probably fifty feet in the air and rising. I prepared to make an impossible shot, I let lose the arrow and a miracle happened, I actually hit the lady!

Leo fell (still screaming like a sailor.) Luckily some trees broke his fall. I ran over to him and saw him dusting some pine needles off of himself," Thank gods you're ok!" I said as I hugged him. He looked down at me after I let go of him," If you call getting snatched up by a Fury, falling from at least forty feet in the air getting scratched up by the stupid trees, then sure I'm golden."

Nico arched an eyebrow," Are you two done yet, we need to go." Almost right on cue, two other Furies started to charge us. One of them lunged for me, I couldn't move. The Fury was aiming for my heart, but at the last second Leo knocked her out of the way.

It, her claw, almost missed me but made a target on my forehead. I fell down and felt the blood that was starting to drip down. I looked over at Nico who'd easily take out one of them and started to make a makeshift-bandage.  
Leo came over and picked me up into his arms, I struggled to keep my focus on him though I felt really sleepy. He noticed, "Come on Emma, look at me." His voice right now was so commanding, I couldn't help but listen to him," Okay…Leo if I don't make it-"" No. I'm not letting you go."

I smiled, at least if I died, I would die in his arms. As soon as we got into the gates Nico started calling for medics. Leo was still staring at me; I clutched his hand, the whole world had started to move in waves.

I kid with a bow slung over his shoulder came running over, "Leo, oh I see." He took me into what looked like an infirmary, he set me down onto a bed, Leo was sitting on the bed holding my hand I whispered," Leo I'll be fi..." then my world went dark.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 9, Leo

The guards had to drag me out of the infirmary, partly because I would have woken out the other patients because I was screaming for Emma to wake up, and because my hair was on fire.

I sat down on a rock and tried to calm myself down so that I wouldn't burn down the camp. Piper walked over with Percy, "Leo you're back!" she exclaimed, Percy smirked," First off who's that girl?" I frowned," Emma, Emma Rose." Percy sat next to me," I haven't seen you that crazy since-"" Don't mention that name." He shrugged," Okay, okay."

Piper sat down next to me and exclaimed," Oh! My! Gods! Leo you like her." I rolled my eyes," Ha-ha, no." She nodded and I knew that she and Percy saw right through me. I sighed and went to go back to my cabin.

When I got in I didn't expect silence, I mean news traveled fast through camp. Was I that disliked? I was just about to head to into my secret bunker under the cabin, well not for my brothers and sister, but secret for a lot of people.

"Welcome back!" yelled my brothers and sisters," Geez! Don't do that to me!" I said catching my breath. They brought out a cake that looked like it had been covered in copper and at the bottom was set ablaze.

"Happy Birthday!" said the youngest of the Hephaestus bunch, Harvey. My sister Nyssa tapped him on the back," Uhh Harvey, it's not his birthday." He frowned," Aww, so do I still get cake." I smiled," Sure Harve." I passed out cake and felt so good that I told Harvey and Jake to go take the rest to the other cabins.

I walked into my bunker and waited until I thought everyone, I walked out to go see Emma, to see if she was okay. I just got to the door," Where are you going?" asked Nyssa. I turned and whispered trying not to yell around," Bronze bulls! Don't do that to me."

Nyssa arched an eyebrow," You still didn't answer my question." I sighed," Fine I'm going to check on Emma." She smiled," Okay, then..." _Why does my sister have to get involved in my business?_ I asked myself as I headed to the infirmary.

Chapter 10, Emma

I woke up and felt my head, it was smooth and I figured that somebody gave me ambrosia. I sat up and looked out of the window, it probably around seven- ish. I got out of the bed and saw Leo, snoring, and I gently tapped him on the shoulder, "Leo wake up."

He sat up with a start," No! Chiron doesn't send the harpies on me! I didn't shave your beard!" I laughed," Uh…Leo-"" Emma!" he said as he cut me off, he gave me a hug," Thank gods you're alright." He murmured, I smiled," Yeah, wait where's my bow?" he smiled," Oh it's down at the forge, it got a little beat up so I cleaned it up."

A thought crossed my mind," Uh… how long was I asleep?" he stretched," Uh about two days." I sat down on the bed," Did anything interesting happen?" he shook his head.

I heard a horn," What's that?" I asked. He said walking to the door," It's the horn that signals campfire." With that we headed out of the infirmary.

Since I hadn't been _claimed_,whatever that was, I got to sit next to Leo. His brothers and sisters were really nice to me, and Leo's little brother, Harvey, was the cutest thing. Even though he looked like he could take on Chuck Norris and not even break a sweat.

Apparently Chiron was a horse, or at least half horse, I think that meant he was a centaur. He stepped in front of the campfire, which seemed to reflect the campers' moods. Now it was a light blue, Chiron said crossing his arms," I have a few announcements. First off Leo is back." The Hephaestus kids clapped, but other than that it was quiet," Thanks for the welcome back guys." Leo said sarcastically to the other people.

Chiron continued," Second off, we all know that monsters aren't dying as easily as they used to." The crowd shuffled uncomfortably," I have verified that it isn't the doors of death." I heard grateful sighs." But I can't say what is doing it yet. On a lighter note, we are having a talent show in two weeks."

That didn't light up the mood, I felt a tapping on my shoulder," We brought you your bow and arrows." I remembered that his name was Jake. I took them gratefully, "Thanks." I looked up and saw something.

I realized it was a hell hounds that were charging from a distance, I focused on the sun and making it bright. For a moment there was nothing, and then I could see the sun shining on everyone," Hell Hounds!" I screamed, everyone looked around in confusion but Leo who stood up and already had a hammer in his hand.

The first one jumped into the campfire and snarled, I shot it and I saw it explode into dust. The rest were dead before they knew it, I was never so happy to have somebody watching my back.

When it became dark again, I seemed to have a golden light around myself, Chiron said," Hail Emma Rose, daughter of the light and Apollo."

Chapter 11, Leo

When she was claimed, I stood there mouth gaping like an idiot. I sighed with relief, _thank the fates she wasn't a Hephaestus kid. Gods that would be weird liking your own sister._ I headed back and hit the hay.

I was walking on a beach, it was nighttime but there was a clear light coming from farther down the beach. I decided that going that way wouldn't be a bad idea. The closer I got to the light the warmer it got. When I got to where the light was, it was a car.

I'm serious the thing making the light was the car, which was my dream car a Ferrari. It was red, my favorite color," You like the car?" asked a guy that almost scared the pants off of me.

The man was around six feet tall, looked about seventeen years old, dirty blond hair, a blinding smile, his eyes were golden, and he had an outdoors look. He leaned against the Ferrari," If you're wondering I'm Apollo." _It was a little weird to think that this guy that looked like a seventeen year old was a god, and the father of my crush._

I nervously waved," Hi." He pulled out his bow and arrows," I know that you have a crush on my daughter, and I want to let you know that she likes music." I shook my head," Wait. What. You're fine with me liking Emma?"

Apollo crossed his arms," Well you did help save the world, multiple times. Plus kid, not trying to be mean, but if you don't get it good with her… You don't have that many options." _Even Apollo didn't think I had that good of a chance with any other girls. _I wasn't sure wither to be thankful or offended.

He frowned," I said not trying to be mean." He lightened up on me," Remember that talent show in one week?" I was confused," What's that got to do with anything?" He looked at me like I was the dumbest person alive," Ask her to the fireworks there, but first tell her you like her."

This guy was so much more confusing than Jason explaining how Greek and Roman gods are different than each other.

I asked him," What?" he sighed," Tell her you like her in a song, here's a list of them." He tossed me a list, and he climbed back into his car," Remember kid, don't mess this up."

I saw him drive off in his car; I still had a million questions. Apparently, none of them would be answered. I felt myself being jerked awake. I sat up in my bed and found myself holding a list.

I looked over at my clock, even though I was ADHD I could still read basic time. I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep so I set down the list and headed to the lake.

I got to the pier, and saw Emma," You couldn't sleep either?" I asked, she looked at me and sighed," Yeah, stupid fortune telling dreams." I sat down next to her putting my legs over the pier and touching the warm lake water.

"What was the dream?" I asked her, I instantly felt bad. She bit her lip," I don't want to talk about it." I burst out laughing. No not because of Emma the dang naiads were tickling my feet underwater.

Emma realized what was happening and nicely shooed them away. I still knew she was sad, and her dream must have been pretty bad," So, Emma, are you liking your new brothers and sisters?"

She gave me a small smile," Yeah they are really nice, and I got a schedule." I saw her bring out a small piece of paper," I have most of the day with you and your brothers and sisters." I took a look, she was right.

I saw the naiads below my making hearts at me and Emma, I didn't realize it but my hair burst into flames. Emma said quietly and with a cute little smile," Your hair is kind of on fire." I cooled down and said shrugging," Yeah that happens sometimes."

I looked out across the lake and saw the sun rising, it lit up the sky with beautiful pinks reds and oranges. Emma stared out into the sun and her green eyes looked golden, I could see the resemblance between her and her father. The only difference was that see was a little shy.

After that we headed back to the cabins to get out of our pjs, and I waved to her.

_Zeus almighty, my brothers and sisters are heavy sleepers. An atomic bomb could have blown outside and you'd find my brothers and sisters still sleeping._ I grabbed a bucket of water and poured it on Jake," WHAT IN HADES WAS THAT FOR?!" he yelled, thankfully waking everyone else up.

After a lot of grumbling, I finally got them up. We headed to break fest, Percy was allowed to sit at any table and he chose to sit at the Apollo one. They, Emma and Percy, looked like they were having a very interesting conversation. I one of my brothers, Jake, whispered into my ear," You looking at Emma?"

I slapped him and threw my pancake at him," Do me a favor, shut up."

Chapter 12, Emma

I couldn't wait until we could start the day of fun/dangerous activities. Percy was telling me all about his adventures I swear he's done so many amazing things that somebody could write a series about it. He was telling me all about camp and this guy was seriously cool.

Well he was a son of Poseidon, then he's been to Olympus went to Underworld (multiple times, which is not on my top to do list) then he beat Kronos and Gaea (also a few giants along the way.) Yup this guy was defiantly the talk of the camp.

First off on my list of things to do was sword fighting. Percy told me to be careful around the sword instructor, Clarisse. She's a daughter of Ares, and from what I know about Ares his children aren't the nicest people.

My brothers and sisters are really cool, Will, the counselor of the cabin is nice and had shown me the camp last night. Then my slightly older sister, Annalise, is the only person that knows about me liking Leo. She has blond hair, tall, perky, has green eyes, and has a couple freckles. We became friends instantly, and she looked at me," Are you excited?" I replied shaking my head," Oh yeah."

I think Percy was sugar coating Clarisse when he said she was mean. She could make a bear stand down just by staring at it. She eyed me," Well since it's your first day, I think I should give you a lesson."

She gestured to the rack of swords. I took a look and really wanted my bow, but this was sword fighting. I took a long sword that looked like a thin leaf. Clarisse laughed," You want that sword? Okay then your funeral." Everyone backed up and Clarisse lunged at me.

I knew her fighting style instantly; she was an all offensive person. My strategy was to run her down. It was working so far," Get back her you little…" she panted and I knew I was going to win; I kicked her feet out from under her and put my sword to her throat.

My cabin cheered, I got tons of pats on the back, and, "Good job Emma!" We went to dueling each other and I got paired up with Nico. It turned out that he wasn't bad with a sword. I noticed something about him, he moved aggressively, like he was angry at something.

At the end of the lesson we were drenched in sweat. I went over to give him a good job, but he just said," Please just don't try to be friends with me; it won't turn out good for either of us." I walked over to Annalise and she read my mind," Yeah he's friendly right?" I looked back at Nico; he was looking out over the lake.

Now I was headed to the forges, Leo was going to be there. I silently cheered. We got there and we were greeted by the Hephaestus kids. Leo walked over to me in a dirty apron (a work apron) that was covered in grease and oil, and some mechanic glasses that he put on his head.

"Emma I heard that you beat Clarisse! That's so cool." I hoped he couldn't see me blush," It was nothing." He took me around the forges and at the end of he said," Can I show you something?" I smiled nervously," Sure."

He led me to the back to his work area," Close your eyes." I wondered what he was going to show me, but I did close my eyes," Just listen." He said, I heard him cranking up something.

Then I heard a familiar melody, it was the melody from Phantom of the Opera, and this melody was from Say You'll Love Me. Then after about a minute of this it stopped like it forgot what to play. I opened my eyes," How'd you know you liked that song?" I asked.

Leo ran his fingers through his hair," I'm a special kid." Then he tried to lean on his work desk, but he misjudged it and fell on the floor. He hopped up," I meant to do that." I laughed, "Okay then."

He took off his work apron," Well what do you want to work on? I have tons of projects." We decided to work on a mechanical messenger bird that could deliver messages around camp.

So far I liked this part of the day the best. Now we were headed to the horse/Pegasus stables. Percy was teaching Pegasus riding and fighting. I always liked horses; hopefully I'd like Pegasus too. We got over to a clearing and I saw Percy on a black Pegasus.

He hopped off of it and said," Okay guys get on your Pegasus." I walked over to him," Uh… Percy? I don't have one." _Uh boss. She doesn't have a Pegasus. What about Blaze? _Said a voice I my head, and I'm sure that it wasn't mine. Then I heard a voice that sounded like Percy's, _yes I heard her the first time Blackjack! And no I'm not giving her Blaze._ Then the voice that must have been Blackjack's said, _sorry boss._

I held up a finger and asked Percy," Percy, who were you talking to?" Percy looked at me unsurely," Wait a second." Then he gestured to his Pegasus," You heard me talking to Blackjack?" I nodded. Blackjack asked, _is she a daughter of Poseidon? _I pet his mane," Nope I'm an Apollo kid."

I heard a loud whine come from the Pegasus stables, "What's that Percy?" I asked. He sighed," That's Blaze, a Pegasus that nobody can control." I heard a voice in my head, it wasn't Blackjack's or Percy's, _Hey Apollo kid over here let me out of here my hooves are getting cramped! _

Before Percy could stop me I headed to the stables, the horse that was talking in my head was a beautiful Pegasus that was such a bright brown that he almost looked red. I asked him," Where'd you come from?" _I used to pull your father's chariot but the he decided that chariots were too old so he upgraded to the sun car. The three Pegasus that pulled his chariots flew to different parts of the world. Please let me out._

Percy walked over," Yeah he's told me to let him multiple times. The last time I did that he trampled three harpies, five dryads, and seriously injured two campers." Blaze snorted, _it's not like I killed anybody. Man these Greeks don't know what water under the bridge is._ Percy sighed," If you let him out… your funeral."

_I'd be good for her, I like Apollo kids, that and I don't want her dad to get mad at me. _ Percy mounted Blackjack," Fine then but don't blame me when you land in the infirmary." I laughed and opened his stables; he already had a saddle on," Be good, okay Blaze?" _I know, I know. _He sighed.

Leo was on a gray Pegasus that had black speckles," Emma met Taxi." He said, his horse said to me_, what's up?_ I smiled, _nothing Taxi._ Percy was in the middle of the field," Okay, let's get started try to get your Pegasus off the ground and around one-hundred feet into the air.

I didn't even need to say anything, Blaze shot up into the air. Percy eyed Blaze carefully but continued the lesson. After around five minutes of this he said," You guys can have free time, just don't kill yourselves." Leo flew just a little closer to me, I could tell that he didn't like being in the air.

I laughed, because he was clutching onto Taxi with an iron grip while I didn't have any hands on Blaze. Leo frowned at me," Oh be quiet." This only made me laugh more. I asked, "Hey why'd you choose Taxi as your Pegasus?" he relaxed a little," He's Spanish."

Taxi's eyes lit up,_ In Spain they do bull riding!_ _Let's demonstrate with Leo!_ I had just enough time to say," Uh-Oh."

The next thing Leo knew he was being bucked around in the air," STUPID HORSE! DUMB, STUPID HORSE! I'M NOT ENJOYING THIS!" he yelled as he clung on for dear life. I raced over to him but not before he lost his grip on Taxi. As he was falling he screamed," I HATE THAT HORSE!"

"Let's go Blaze." I said urgently, Blaze was more than happy to oblige, _Yes! I've got a need for speed!_ We shot down downwards towards Leo. He was within arm reach and I grabbed his arm, and hulled him up.

When we landed and Leo was still muttering," Stupid, dumb, idiotic, crazy horse…" and plenty of unflattering things about Taxi. Percy yelled," Okay who gave Taxi a sugar cube? Everyone knows that Taxi is already hyper as it is." Connor and Travis Stoll snickered and Percy frowned," Well Connor and Travis just volunteered to clean up the stables tonight." Connor frown and Travis looked at Percy," Aw come on…"

Now we had two hours of free time, Leo and Percy were walking with me. Percy asked us," Hey Annabeth and I are going to the lake, would you guys like to come with us?" We nodded,

Percy went to go find Annabeth, and Leo said bye when we got to our cabins, which are right beside each other. I sighed, and murmured," Best. Day. Ever."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 13, Leo

_Wow, that was embarrassing. Falling off Taxi and then getting my butt saved by Emma. Geez, couldn't the fates give me a break._I got on my swim trucks that had flame designs on them; I grabbed my red towel, and headed down to the lake.

I got down there and wondered where Percy and Annabeth could be. I heard running behind me, I saw Percy sprinting past me and down to the end of the docks," GERONIMO!" he yelled as he did a cannon ball.

The splash was so big it hit me from behind the docks," And that my friends is why you come after Percy gets here." said Annabeth, from behind me laughing. I was dripping from head to toe," Percy, I can get Connor and Travis on you." I pointed at him and tried to wring out my towel," They're already plotting"

"Leo why are you dripping wet?" asked Emma, I pointed to Percy," Percy happened." Emma smiled and set down her towel.

She was wearing a yellow tankini, with her hair up in a ponytail. She looked at me and smiled," Well, do you want to swim or not?" I said eyeing Percy," As long as he doesn't splash me."" Don't count on it." He replied. I rolled my eyes and jumped in.

Annabeth came in after me, and then Emma. Holy Hephaestus Emma pretty I the water. She swam and dove into the lake with grace that I could never manage. Percy made a heart at me when he caught me staring at her.

He called a splash fight, and creamed everyone. After it we headed back to our cabins to dry off before dinner. I sighed at the thought of food.

Chapter 14, Emma

The next couple of days I'd been exploring the coves around the lake and I found my favorite spot of Camp Half-Blood. It was a tiny part of the cliffs that looked over the lake and if people walked by it they wouldn't notice it.

On around the fifth night I got out of my cabin. I needed some to think by myself. My night mares have gotten worse and worse. I had just turned the corner to get to my spot when I saw," Nico?" I asked him.

Nico had some fast reflexes; he'd jumped up and put the point of his sword at my chest," Oh it's you." He said as he put his sword away. The pale moon glinted off his messy dark hair that always looked like he'd just got out of bed," What are you doing here?" he asked me, I replied," Uh… sometimes come here to think."

He said walking past me," Well I'll just be going then." I grabbed his arm," Wait Nico." He turned around," Why?" He glared at me with a cold glare," Why don't you ever talk to anybody?" Well that got his attention.

He gripped his sword and turned around so that he wasn't facing me," If only people knew." he murmured, I put my hand on his shoulder," Knew what." He avoided my gaze," Just forget I said anything." He rubbed off my hand.

I shook my head," It isn't good to freeze people out like you are." He laughed, not a cold or creepy laugh, a good hearted laugh that could make you believe that he was a normal fifteen year old," Wow, you must really want to be friends with me."

I smiled," Yeah, you look like you could use a friend." I saw his smile fading," What's wrong Nico?" I asked. He said," I think I should show you something." He held out his hand, I looked at him cautiously, he chuckled," What I don't bite." I took his hand, and he said," Children of Hades, or Pluto, have an ability to show their past to people."

I couldn't believe it, we'd just met, and he was ready to show me his past. I'm not complaining, but that shows he must really trust me. For a person like himself that might not be an easy thing to do.

I felt the world around me fade, but I still knew Nico was holding onto my hand, I shut my eyes. Suddenly I felt the world beneath me. I opened my eyes and looked around we were in a totally different place, and somehow it felt like a different time.

It looked like I was at a dance and I called out," Nico?" nobody paid me any attention," Nico!" I yelled. I felt a hushed voice say," I'm over here." I turned around and found him. I looked down and realized that my legs were materializing and turning to smoke.

When I finally figured out how to move with foggy legs, I made my way over to Nico. He was staring at two kids, one of them was a girl that was wearing a floppy green cap, and she looked twelve years old. The other was a little boy (around eleven) that was playing with cards. Nico looked at the girl with a sort of sadness, I tapped his shoulder," Are you okay?" he shook his head," Yes-uh… It's nothing." He was acting weird.

I was just about to say something when the door burst open and none other than Percy Jackson ran in with Annabeth and Grover. Nico said," This was the day I found out I was a demigod." I pointed to the little boy with the cards," That's you?" Nico nodded but was still looking at the girl. He said with no feeling in his voice," That's my sister, Bianca."

_It's hard to believe that that little boy over there, which is so happy and sweet looking, is now a teenager that is so sad and lonely. It was breaking my heart. _

It changed to a snowy scene and I saw the girl that had been wearing that cap, she now looked stronger," Nico I can't look over you now." Younger Nico looked heart broken," No Bianca!" She gave him a hug," I know it's going to be hard but you're going to make plenty of friends, you won't miss me at all with all of the fun you'll be having there." Younger Nico still looked sad," Fine."

Older Nico said," Let's move on." The world shifted under me again, and I saw younger Nico hiding behind the dining pavilion at. Then I saw Percy come out of the darkness, I saw him holding a cap with the Yankee's symbol on it.

"Nico, you can't go." He said, younger Nico looked back, he hadn't realized that Percy was there," What?" Percy put his hand on younger Nico's shoulder," You can't follow Bianca." Nico sighed, and then his eyes lighted up," You can go though!" This time Percy sighed," Nico-"" Promise you'll keep her safe!" Nico pleaded.

Percy said unsurely," Okay I promise." Nico looked into his eyes and thought, _how can he possibly fail?_ I recognized this part in the story; Percy had told me about it, this was one of the saddest parts…

Then the memory showed where my favorite spot was. Younger Nico was staring out across the lake and was crying, "Bianca please be safe." He murmured. Nico clamped his eyes shut," Nico?" I asked as I touched his shoulder. He whispered, "It's almost over."

The memory shifted for, hopefully, the last time. I wanted it to be over not for me but because Nico looked on the verge of a breakdown, I knew how that felt.

Percy handed Nico a figurine," Nico your sister is-"" No! You promised to keep her safe she can't be dead!" Younger Nico whispered," She can't be dead…" Percy knelt down," I know it's hard I understa-"" No, you don't!" I looked into younger Nico's eyes; _it looked like they'd shattered, it was like something unfixable inside of him had broken. Permanently._

There was a shuddering behind them and two skeleton warriors were standing behind Percy. Percy uncapped Riptide and screamed," Nico run!" but Nico didn't run, he clenched his fist, and then the ground shuddered, and fire erupted through the cracks and it swallowed the skeleton warriors.

Then I saw Younger Nico throw the figurine, and run down the icy steps.

Then it faded and I woke up. Nico avoided my gaze," If you don't still want to be friends I understand." I wasn't going to say I'm sorry; those were two empty words that meant nothing. Nico didn't want my pity; he felt like an outsider and would never fit in. He wanted to be treated like everyone else, and being the son of Hades didn't help.

He sighed;" I thought somebody should know, before…" he stopped talking there. I asked him," Before what?" He shook his head," Never mind." I said looking down," If it makes you feel any better, I know how you feel." His voice turned cold as ice, "You couldn't possibly know how I feel."

I avoided his icy glare," Yes I do…" I told him about my coma, "I don't know what happened to my little sister and mom." His expression softened," I didn't know." I managed a weak laugh, "'S okay."

For the first time, in probably in a long time, he asked," So, do you want to be friends." I nodded," That's fine by me." _Before today I'd never thought, of all the people in Camp Half-Blood I'd be friends with Nico di Angelo, but now I knew that he was just a lost kid, wanting to feel wanted._

I smiled, and we headed back to our cabins, hopefully Nico wasn't as sad as he was before.

Chapter 15, Leo

For the past week when I fell asleep Apollo has been giving me singing lessons, the first night went like this:

I found myself on a very familiar beach, and then I realized this was the beach that I first met Apollo. I found him taking a nap on a hammock," Uh… Sun God? Are you awake?" He sat up," Yeah, I was just waiting for you, why do you take so long to fall asleep?" I shrugged," I dunno."

Apollo rubbed his eyes," Well time for your first lesson in singing." I shook head," What?" He repeated, this time a lot slower. When he was done he said," Sing for me, anything." _When I was singing, if you could even call it that, I thought I sounded like a pelican that was choking on a dead fish._

"Well it's very good that I'm here then, by the time I'm done with you you'll be a star!" he said like he was determined. The next few days were brutal; this guy is bad to the bone when it comes to music.

When I woke up I tested my singing, I wasn't half bad. I remembered Apollo telling me to sign up for the talent show fast, because apparently the spots were going to fill up fast. I ran to the Apollo cabin and sure enough there was one spot left on the signup sheet. I quickly did as Apollo told; I wondered if he knew if Emma was ever going to like me. I'd ask Apollo the next time I practiced, I mean after all he could see the future.

I looked at the date, Uh-Oh it's tomorrow! Time had passed so fast. I walked away and Calypso crossed my mind. _What the heck was I thinking of her for I Iike Emma, maybe I'm feeling guilty about it._ I headed to the forges a little earlier than I normally did.

I passed the lake and heard a familiar voice," Leo!" It was Calypso's," Leo!" I ran over to the edge of the lake I looked around, how'd she find me? How'd she get off of Ogygia? I realized she was sending me an Iris message," Holy Hephaestus! Where are you?!" she laughed, then winced like it hurt," Yes it's good to see you too." Then her voice became serious," Leo. Don't come and find me, it won't be good for either one of us."

"Why?" I asked her, she sighed," I'm being held hostage, if he found out I did this, if you did find me…" I heard footsteps, Calypso looked around like she was scared," Got to go!" The image of her shimmered, and I found myself wondering if I should go look for her.

I heard a voice behind me," Are you okay Leo?" I turned around and saw Rachel, I nodded trying to act it off by saying something intelligent like," Uh…" she walked over to me," Come on Leo you can tell me…and if you don't you know I'll find out eventually."

I remembered she had the spirit of Daphne, I knew she wasn't lying when she said she'd find out," It's Calypso." She arched an eyebrow," Are you thinking about her?" I shook my head," No, she just sent me an Iris message." Rachel said unsurely," Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?"

"Well it would be…" I rubbed the back of my neck," If I didn't like Emma." Rachel said shaking your head," Aphrodite must be watching you." I sat down on the docks starring at where Calypsos' Iris message was," Why does my life have to be so complicated?"

She shrugged," Well I highly doubt any demigods have uncomplicated lives." I glared at her," You aren't helping." She rolled her eyes," Well Leo, remember what I told you about a daughter of Apollo?" I nodded, she continued," I'm feeling in a good mood so I'll spoil one thing, at the fireworks the daughter of Apollo will ask you what you wish for. Think about that."

I frowned and was about to ask her more but she said," You might want to get dressed, breakfast is about to start." She left me feeling just as confused as I was before. I remembered that tomorrow was Emma's birthday; I knew exactly what to finish for her.

Chapter 16, Emma

Annalise asked me to be the announcer tomorrow at the talent show, since she was the stage manager she could ask anybody to do it. I knew she wasn't going to take no for an answer so I agreed.

At free time I was at walking past the basketball court, I saw Piper crying on a bench, I walked over to her," Piper what happened?" She sniffled," I can't believe it." I asked her, "What?" she broke out crying again;" Jason broke up with me, for Reyna and he's at Camp Jupiter!"

I patted her back," That must be rough." She rubbed her eyes," I don't know what I did! I never did _anything_ to him, he just left me!"

I was a blank when it came to this kind of stuff," Piper, everything happens for a reason." She cursed at the sky, "Stupid Aphrodite, always making things complicated in my life."

I said," If I ever see him, would you like me to talk to him?" She nodded," Thanks, and could tell him I'm sorry for getting mad at him and everything?" I nodded and started to walk I didn't really have a destination, so I just went walking along the lake's shoreline.

I was just about to head back to my cabin when I heard somebody yelling, I hid in the trees and tip-toed closer. It was Nico di Angelo.

He seemed to be yelling at the sky, I started listening when he was yelling," You really had to make this harder on me, _by throwing her into this_?!" it wasn't very hard to figure out who he meant by _her_.

Nico continued yelling at some invisible force," Now I'm going to have to worry about getting the through the Underworld!" I took a step back, _what does he mean the Underworld? Is that what nightmares telling me about?_

Nico, without turning around, said quietly," Emma I know you're there." I crept out," Nico what do you mean by _making this harder on me, by throwing her into this?_ And what are you talking about _getting them through the Underworld?"_

He avoided my gaze," The first question I didn't think I'd have to answer, it's pretty obvious." It hit me; _Nico di Angelo has a crush on me!_ I wanted to veer away from that subject so I asked him," And the second one?" He said plainly," Chiron's forbidden me from talking about that one."

I realized how hard it must be to like somebody, considering what he's gone through. I remember listening to the song Demons, I looked into his eyes, and I almost could see his demons. I couldn't believe out of all the people at camp, Nico likes me! I managed to push that thought away.

"Nico why do you like me, I'm no more special than any other person here at camp?" I asked him, he stared at me with those dark brown eyes he cracked a small grin," Well let me see… has anybody else tried to be friends with me? Do you think I show just anybody my past? Do you think I've let people be my friends?"

I rubbed my arm, and he continued," And the way you're so shy, it is pretty cute." I was blushing insanely," Nico..." here he was saying all of these things about me, and I could never return them.

I said in barely more than a whisper," I don't want there to be anything awkward between us, I love you, but in more of a brotherly way." He said," It's okay; I know you don't like me." But I could see in his eyes that I'd just broken his heart. Before anything else could happen I ran back to my cabin.

That night I had an even harder time going to sleep, I kept on thinking about Nico; I didn't want to risk a trip back to my spot. He was nice to me, but I didn't want to see angry Nico. So the whole night I was tossing and turning.

When I woke up I saw a note on my bunk,

Emma,

Activities for the people that are in the talent show are cancelled, come to the Amphitheatre. Oh, and you're going to have to memorize the order of people who are going.

From, Annalise

I pulled on a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and some jeans, and then I headed down to the amphitheater. When I got there it I was struggling to find Annalise. Everyone was busy, practicing their acts, setting up the stage, or trying to find other people.

I found Annalise telling Jake to get the lighting system built pronto," Oh there you are Emma, glad you could make it," She pulled out a script," Here are the acts, and the last one wanted to be anonymous. I'll tell you the person that's doing the act right before they go on."

I spent the rest of the day trying to memorize the gazillion acts, and in their order. Then at five o'clock, I was going to be allowed to watch the acts when they were in progress. Piper was sitting next to me," You ready?" she asked me," Oh yeah, this is going to be fun." I replied. Percy sat on the other side of me," Well I've never been a fan of shows, but I heard the Stoll brothers were going to be doing a comedy act." Annabeth rolled her eyes.

I climbed onto the stage and couldn't help but look for Nico I the audience, but I had to start the show," Ladies and Gentlemen!" I announced as the light illuminated the stage, "Are you ready for the first annual talent show?!" the crowd cheered.

So I had to do the cycle of announcing, sitting down, announcing, and sitting down again. Until I saw Leo.

I saw him back stage and I told him," I didn't know you were in the talent show." he rubbed his neck, I asked," What are you doing?" he replied mysteriously," You'll have to find out."

I announced his act and sat down. He stepped up to the microphone," This is for a special friend of mine." Then he started singing _You Had me at Hello_.

"_I can feel you coming from a mile away. My pulse stops racing from the words that you say, and you say so many like you don't have a clue. That I'm signed sealed delivered with a stamp on-"_

I swear he was looking at me that verse, and after he was done the crowd roared.

Now we had a six minute break to vote on the best act, Piper whispered over to me," I don't think he was talking about me when he said the song was for a special friend." That made me blush uncontrollably.

I climbed behind the curtain," So Annalise have you got the votes in?" she nodded and handed me the envelope," Remember don't open it until you get out there." I sighed there was still another minute left.

I was watching the clock, 30….25….13….9….4…2…1 I ran out there giddy with excitement. I calmed down the audience, "Well your votes are all in, let's see who our winner is…" I opened the envelope, I saw Nico in the back arms crossed but still here," The winner of our first annual talent show at Camp Half-Blood is LEO VALDEZ!"

Annalise brought out the bronze laurel wreath, Leo stepped out from the curtain, beaming. He gave a slight bow to the audience and they went crazy.

Then he turned to me, and lowered his head to be crowned somehow though he kept his eyes from leaving mine. When I'd put the wreath on him he said to the audience," There's one more thing I'd like to do." Silence followed," Emma Rose will you go to the fireworks with me?"

I was blushing hysterically," Yes." Then the audience started chanting," Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Leo and I shrugged, and he pulled me into his arms. We were just inches apart from each other when he leaned in.

On top of the world, that was how I was feeling. Like the luckiest girl alive. Then Percy started clapping, and the rest of the people joined in.

I looked for Nico, I didn't find him. I felt guilt burn in my chest but when Leo found my hand I managed to forget it. The curtains closed and I smiled," Hey Leo where'd you learn to sing like that?" He said as-a-matter-of-factly," I learned it from-" "Me." Said a man that looked about seventeen, dirty blond hair and had a familiar smile," Dad?"

He nodded and said patting my shoulder," I'm so proud of you Emma. And make sure you keep Leo in check." I asked him," Are you leaving?" He nodded sadly," We gods have busy schedules; if we don't stick to them the big guy gets angry. I truly am sorry I have to leave; I wish I could see you more."

He walked away without another word, Leo sighed," Yeah gods don't have much time to chat. You'll see them the most in dreams." I sighed, and Percy walked over," Aww you guys are so cute." Leo rolled his eyes," Whatever Percy, well Emma. I have to get ready for our date. I will pick you up in thirty minutes."

He left and I sighed," Coolest talent show ever."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 17, Leo

"_What to wear? What to wear? What you Piper make me wear?" _I asked myself, I rummaged through my closet and I heard Piper's voice in my head," What says Leo?" I shrugged," I dunno that's why I'm asking you." when suddenly I saw the perfect shirt, it was the shirt from the salt lake I'd wrote on it in permanent marker, _Team Leo_my inner teenager girl screamed that it was perfect.

I put it on, with some jeans and suspenders grabbed the music box, put some blankets and a couple pillows in the picnic basket.

I almost was skipping to the Apollo cabin, and when I got there Emma stepped out my heart felt like it skipped a beat, "Wow." I murmured, she was wearing a light red sundress, with little hints of yellow and yellow with an orange belt in the middle. Her hair was in a French braid and had a little sun pin in it, suddenly I wished I'd dressed up more.

"Are you ready Emma?" she nodded, and took my hand, and we headed for what she called her special spot. It took less than ten minutes to get there; before Emma sat down I held a finger up," Wait a second Emma." I sat down the blankets and set out the pillows," Leo, you're going to spoil me rotten." I shrugged.

"Emma close your eyes." She eyed me but eventually closed her eyes," Don't open them until I tell you." I pulled out the music box and placed it in her hands," You can open your eyes now."

She opened her eyes and the music box started playing the tune, only this time the box played the whole song. She smiled," Oh Leo." I smiled," Happy Birthday Emma." _I don't know why but I was still afraid, afraid that I might lose her. Out of all the things in the world that were mine, she was one thing I couldn't bear losing. She was the stars at night at night that kept me on tract. She was my sun._

She gave me a kiss," Thank you." Fireworks literally went off; we turned our attention to the fireworks that my brothers and sisters had to set up. People at Camp Half-Blood weren't kidding when they said the fireworks were awesome. They had centaur fireworks that moved around in the sky that shot arrows, which turned into more fireworks.

When they were over she whispered over to me," What do you wish for most in the world?" I grinned," You mean other than what's in front of me?" Emma laughed," Yes other than what's in front of you." I shrugged," I don't know maybe my old dragon, Festus; he was the best thing I ever fixed." Emma sighed happily," I wish we could stay in this moment forever."

I smiled and a thought crossed my mind, what if something happened to her. That was another reason I was slightly scared with all of this love stuff. _Let's say a machine broke, that can be replaced or fixed. If something were to happen to Emma… People aren't as easy to fix as machines._

Chapter 18, Leo

The next morning I woke up to hearing Nyssa's voice on some speakers they installed in my room," Leo you need to get your butt up here now!" I told my room to get me a double espresso coffee with whipped cream (what fireworks go late at night.)

Nobody was in the cabin but I found a note that Harvey wrote,

Leo come outside.

As I walked out of the cabin I heard a roar that literally shook the ground. I knew only one thing that could have roared that loud," FESTUS!" I started running behind the cabin and there he was, gleaming in the morning rays.

Festus was forty feet of fire breathing, Celestial Bronze, killing claws, and awesomeness!

_Festus saw me and started bounding towards me; see any normal person would have run in the opposite direction. I wasn't normal now was I so I ran over to him_ and hugged his snout. Festus had a note I read it out loud," Leo, for such an amazing performance yesterday I granted you a wish. Aphrodite."

I yelled up at the sky," I love love!" I also ignored the other capers that were staring at me like I was an idiot (which most of them were probably right.) Festus' head tilted to the side as if to say," You okay buddy?" I smiled like I haven't I ages.

"Leo! There's an emergency meeting in the Big House!" yelled wait was that Nico di Angelo? He ran over to me not even glancing at Festus well the again he's probably seen crazier things.

"Guys find Festus some tabasco sauce and I'll be back in a little bit." I saluted to them and Nico and I set off. About to the Big House Nico asked me," Tabasco sauce?" I shrugged," Festus likes the stuff."

The meeting had already been going on and I saw Emma she looked slightly scared," Leo I'll tell you the prophecy later until then, well you and I have been voted to go on the quest." Gods in Olympus I hate prophecies they seem to have one universal goal: let's try our hardest to kill Leo! I couldn't do anything but nod.

It seemed Nico already knew the prophecy," Well the realm of the night is obviously the Underworld." Percy shook his head," I know and don't expect me to go down there. I have enough prophecies to last a life time." Annabeth agreed with him and Nico stood up," Well who knows the Underworld better than me?" The counselors murmured in agreement and Chiron crossed his arms and sighed," Then Zeus be with you on your quest. Also would you mind checking on our friends in the west?"

"No we're on a time frame-"Nico started to protest but I said," Nico first off would that be too hard and two, I really need to apologize to them." Nico scowled but eventually agreed. Chiron asked me," Do you have means of transportation?" I nodded," Yes we can leave tonight."

After the meeting I headed back to my cabin and Emma asked," Can I come?"" Of course, may couldn't you?" I took her hand and she slightly blushed, when I got back Festus seemed asleep. I needed to check him out to see if everything was I place," Holy Hephaestus!" I exclaimed Emma looked around, "What Leo?" I pointed to the disk," He's completely fixed!"

"So why are we going to the Underworld?" I asked and she told me," Well Chiron believes that Hades is behind all of the monsters not dying. See Hades had always been spiteful of the gods and now he might be planning to over throw them." "Seems like a nice guy." I snorted and I caught a ghost of a smile on her face."

Emma smiled and then asked curiously," So we aren't going to fall out of the sky?" I gave her a pat on the shoulder," No promises." No use in lying, and I saw a figure in the shadows, "Hello?" she asked and Percy stepped out," Hey." I grabbed a towel and wiped some grease off of my hands," What do you need?" he crossed his arms and replied," Advice." Huh, I always thought Percy didn't like me. Maybe because of the whole Camp Jupiter incident…

"The Underworld brings out the worst I people, stay sane is the bottom line." I asked," Do you have anything on Nico?" Percy sighed," That kid has been through a lot, just don't make him mad."

Wow that was real helpful I already knew that, I mean anybody could survive Tarturus by themselves they've got to be strong.

"Thanks Percy." Replied Emma as she gave him a friendly hug. Percy said as he turned away," Just be careful." He walked away leaving me knowing why everyone liked this guy. He was a natural leader, a good friend, he cared about his friends, and he tried to help wherever he was needed.

After he left I asked Emma," Are you ready?" She shrugged, "As ready as I'll ever be."" I remember my first quest. Piper, Jason, and I had to find Hera and free her from her cage. That was when I found Festus." Emma sat down and asked," Not to pry or anything but did you like anyone before me."

I learned it's best to be truthful," Yeah, her name's Calypso. Long story short I probably won't see her again." Then I remembered the message that she set me, guilt welled up inside of me. I given her one thought since she set me that message.

Emma looked at my expression," Leo is something wrong?" I shook my head and faked a smile," Nope, it's nothing." Suddenly I felt like we were being watched like a shadow… Nico was leaning against the cabin," We're getting all sorts of visitors today aren't we?" I whispered to Emma, I saw a ghost of a smile on her face.

Nico stepped forwards and he looked at Festus," I wanted to check on you guys, see if you needed any help." I said awkwardly," I don't think we need any help Festus is completely fixed." He looked at the sky, geez it was already sunset!" Emma looked at Nico nervously," Well I better get my stuff."

I know that look it's when they know something that's making them nervous and they don't want to tell somebody. What was Emma hiding? I know it had something to do with Nico. I put the disc back into Festus and he shuddered back to life," So Nico did you come here for any other reason?" Nico said as-a-matter-of-factly," None that I was going to talk to you about." I stretched, because having your head bent down for while can give you a crick in the neck," Fair enough."

I took one last look at the view from my cabin and took a mental picture. It could be my last.

Chapter 19, Emma

Gods out all in the people in Camp Half-Blood Nico di Angelo had to be the leader of the quest! Why couldn't it be like a friendly none awkward person leading the quest? I asked all of these questions in a matter of minutes.

I walked out to the Hephaestus cabin and saw Leo," Let's go." I told him he had nothing with him but an army coat, tool belt and a crazy grin. Me on the other hand had my bow and arrows and a bag of emergency ambrosia.

Festus was out in the middle of the cabins, even though that dragon scared me half to death, the other half wanted to ride it. Nico was already on Festus," What took you guys so long?" he asked, I replied," I was getting my stuff, Leo on the other hand…" Leo shrugged," I was telling my brothers and sisters not to touch my stuff while I'm gone."

Leo was going to be in the front me in the middle and Nico in the back. Leo showed us how to hook our feet into Festus' armor. I pulled out a blanket to sit on (what sitting on a metal dragon can hurt.) Leo said," Oh and by the way I found a feature; just say the name of a song and Festus will play it." Sweet!

I said one of my favorite all-time favorite songs, 21 guns by Green Day. We took off and even though the cold wind cut through my sweat-shirt Festus gave off so much heat that it was like the ultimate butt heater!

I put my arms around Leo's waist, he look a little surprised then he turned and smiled," You can go to sleep, I promise you won't fall off." I let my head rest on his back and let my eyes close.

Then I was running through a dark and hot place when suddenly I realized that I couldn't see too far in front of myself. It started getting darker and darker until I couldn't see anything, I called out for Leo. Nobody came and the rest of the dream I wandered aimlessly with no one and it was honestly the scariest dream I've had. Let me tell you I've had some dreams that would make a grow man run for his mommy.

I sat up with a start, Nico told me," Utah now, in around three hours we should be there." Holy Hera how long was I asleep? Leo's stomach growled, it was amazing I could hear it over the wind and music." Uh… can we stop somewhere to eat? I kind of missed dinner." I nodded," Sure Leo I'm getting a little hungry myself."

We got into McDonalds and we all ordered something. Leo ordered a Quarter Pounder with fries and a drink. Nico got some chicken tenders with a drink. I got a chicken sandwich. Leo looked at his coke," Hm… I wonder if Coke is flammable?" "Leo don't even think about it." Said Nico scooting farther away from Leo.

After a full belly I felt better though I didn't want to tell them about my dream. _We got out into the parking lot and we'd "parked" Festus out in the parking lot. People were just walking by it like," Yeah there's a gigantic metal parked next to my truck. Whatever." I mean I knew the Mist was strong but seriously!_

But standing in front was a guy, he was wearing a Dallas Cowboys shirt, his hair was in a superman haircut, his smile was so bright it would've made a vampire shriek," The light! IT BURNS!" Leo frowned," Dylan."

Dylan flashes a blinding smiled, but like a plotting-your-downfall, kind of smile," Leo Valdez." I assumed that they knew each other, and they didn't like each other, Leo crossed his arms," Didn't we kill you a couple years ago?" Dylan frowned, "Yes, but my boss made me a deal. If I bring one of you back, then I get to kill you."

I looked at Leo and whispered," Is Festus asleep?" Leo nodded," If I can get to him he'll wake up." Nico said," Leo what are you planning?" Leo gave us a crazy grin," Do I look like I come with a plan I'll make something up as I go." Leo gave me a quick kiss," I'll be fine."

He stepped forwards," Just wait a second Dylan. How about you _try_ to kill me the old fashioned way? We fight." Dylan's eyes turned pure gold," Fine." The stepped closer to each other the Leo started running into the McDonalds," You always were a coward!" yelled Dylan as the wind started to pick up and Nico grabbed my arm," Come on Emma, if the wind picks up enough then objects will start flying!" I got the message and we ran to Festus.

What was Leo doing? He came out with…what was that Coke? He threw the cups of Coke at Dylan and amazingly it drenched him." Was that your grand plan, Valdez?" asked Dylan as he whipped of some Coke. Leo shook his head," Nope." He shot some fire at him and Dylan burst into flames.

_The wind started to slow and even though a setting Dylan on fire might not kill him, it was sufficiently distracting._ Leo yelled, "Get on Festus!" we didn't argue, as soon as Leo hopped onto Festus and immediately the dragon shuddered to life," Up, up, and away!" yelled Leo, I couldn't help but smile.

When we were up in the air I asked," So who was that?" Leo sighed," He's a crazy wind spirit that tried to kill me…multiple times." I didn't realize but Nico had been quite for a long time, maybe it was being up in the air, or maybe he just didn't want to talk. I glanced at him; his face was a light shade of green.

About an hour after the Dylan incident Nico managed to say," Okay Leo land in about fifty miles." On metal dragon fifty miles equals two minutes.

Chapter 20, Emma

We flew over some hills then I saw it, Camp Jupiter. It was as amazing as Percy described it. There was a huge field, tons of temples, a pavilion, and a huge city that I was guessing to be New Rome.

Some archers aimed at us then a girl in a purple toga called them off," Hello, Chiron told me you three were going to come. My archers just weren't expecting you on a metal dragon." I hopped of Festus," Oh, well thanks for calling them off." She looked at Leo and Nico," As it seems that you two have been here before you can walk around until tonight; we'll be having a dance. I'll take her around."

The last thing I wanted was to leave Leo and go with this girl. She looked like she could stare down a god, and when we were walking she said," What is your name?" I replied," Emma Rose." She looked off into the distance," Reyna, and Emma," she turned to me," we're going to go into New Rome. Make sure you don't have any weapons. Terminus doesn't like weapons."

"Who's Terminus?" I asked, and a with a slight POP, a statue with no hands appeared," Reyna, and who are you?" he asked with a frown, Reyna said with a regal expression," Terminus, this is Emma Rose. She's a daughter of Apollo." Terminus had a stone expression (metaphorically and literally.)" Octavian won't be happy." Then he turned to me," Give me your weapon." Reyna cracked a small smile, and whispered," Don't mention that he doesn't have hands."

Terminus called for a little girl named Julie, and she held out a tray. My bow and arrows appeared and I set them in the tray," Will I get them back?" Terminus nodded," Of course." We walked past Terminus and Reyna said," I'm taking you to see Octavian." I had to walk fast to keep up with her," Uh…by the way who is that?" Reyna frowned," He is your half-brother. Another child of Apollo, anyway if he told me that from now on that any new comer is to see him."

We got into a huge building; I have no idea what the name of the building is called. I saw a scrawny blond kid ripping open a beanie baby. I stood there awkwardly," Hello?" he turned, "Who are you?" I tapped my foot nervously," Emma, I'm another child of Apollo."

Anger flashed in Octavian's eyes then he wore a mask of happiness," Welcome to Camp Jupiter Emma." Reyna pulled me away," I think he's okay with you staying." I asked her," Does he always kill beanie babies?" She looked forwards without meeting my eyes," That's how he sees prophecies."

A smile spread across Reyna's face when she saw a boy. The boy had blond hair (nicely kept), a small scar above his upper lip, and I could tell just by looking at him that I wouldn't want to get into a fight with this guy. He leaned casually against the fountain but even then he radiated power, and I knew that he could figure out your character just by one conversation.

Reyna ran and hugged him, Oh-no. This was the boy Piper was talking about. His name's Jason Grace and he's a son of Jupiter. I'm not sure who's more intimidating, Jason or Octavian.

Reyna let go and remembered I was there she composed her posture and told him," This is Emma Rose; she's here along with Leo Valdez and Nico di Angelo." Jason looked at me and raised an eyebrow," What brings you to Camp Jupiter Emma?" I wanted to avoid those piercing blue eyes," Uh… I- we, are on a quest and Chiron told us to stop here. To see if everything was okay…"

_Gods I'm a horrible talker! Jason probably thinks I'm a blubbering idiot. _I thought glumly to myself. Jason instead said with a smile," Well we're fine here what's your quest about?" Somebody called Reyna and reluctantly left, leaving me with Jason," Well we have to go to the Underworld. Monsters won't die, I don't know what Chiron meant but he said it wasn't the Doors of Death. So Leo, Nico and I have to figure out what it is."

All the time I was explaining he had his eyes intent on me, let me tell you I don't really like people staring at me, Leo I'm fine with anyone else I get all nervous around. He sighed," Well good luck." I remembered Piper," Oh Jason, Piper wanted me to tell you that she was sorry that she got mad at you and everything." His face became tight with pain, no doubt he was happy with Reyna but maybe he still missed Piper too," Jason send her an Iris-message; just try to talk to her. I think you at least want to be friends with her."

After a long silence he nodded," I think I'll do that, and do you know where Leo is?" I found myself glad for the subject change," If I know Leo he'll probably be anywhere with a forge, Nico was with him too." Jason looked down at me with curiosity," How do you know Leo?" I told him about how we met and then said," Now he's my boyfriend."" Wait you're his girlfriend?" I nodded, and Jason took us to the Vulcan shrine, and sure enough we found Leo and Nico.

"Dude, you never told me got a girlfriend!" he yelled as he ran over Leo, Leo casually walked over," What is so surprising about me getting a girlfriend?" That took Jason a while to answer, and Leo asked," Jason, I hate to bring up this subject and I've noticed Piper's been really messed up, could you just try to talk to her?" Jason sighed," Leo I've already gotten the lecture."

That night they dressed up the dining pavilion (or whatever they call it) to look like the night sky, it had beautiful lights draped over the roof and it was magical. I let Leo go off with Jason and catch up.

I spotted Nico at the back of the place with nobody around him," Hey Nico." He crossed his arms and look at me with eyes of steel," Go away." I felt myself sigh in frustration," Nico I'm sorry for what happened back at camp please don't be mad-" "I'm not mad, you made me realize I'll never fit in and I never will. Stop trying so hard," Nico avoided my gaze and I felt the ground shake," Emma you have Leo and everyone else go have fun with them." I felt tears in my eyes," No Nico I can't other than Leo you were the only other person that was my friend."

His expression softened not much it was more like from being hard rock to hard wood. "Emma I've always been an outsider, I always will be. It's time for both of us to accept that." With that he walked away from me and Leo came over, "What's up?" I shook my head," Nothing." Leo smirked," I know how to turn that frown upside down." He laced his fingers in-between mine and led me to the dance floor and for the rest of the night, we danced.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 21, Leo

In the morning Nico told us that there was a portal in Hollywood that we'd take, Festus was more than happy to get back into the air again. I wasn't too big on heights, you know with my dad falling from Olympus, and the many times I've almost died by heights… but in the air with Festus I was on top of the world.

"So guys, how did you sleep?" I asked them," Could've been better." Replied Nico and Emma didn't say anything, that's not good. The rest of the journey we made I silence and when we finally got there I had the aging suspicion that we weren't going to get back to Camp Half-Blood on Festus. We climbed down and I patted Festus," Bye buddy, I'll see you at camp."

Festus' head dropped and he flew away Emma raised an eye brow," Why'd you send him back?" Nico gave me one of the coldest looks ever, which made me wonder what I'd done to him," I don't think we're getting back to cam by air." I told her and we headed to the Hollywood sign. There was tons of graffiti, and Nico suddenly stopped." What's up?" He pointed at a cave that I hadn't noticed before then," That's our ticket to the Underworld."

Emma looked up at the sky as if to say," Goodbye sun." I took her hand," Let's go, what's one more crazy god that wants to kill me?" Emma managed a weak smile and we headed into darkness. As we traveled deeper underground the air got warmer and warmer.

After what seemed like forever we emerged into this giant cave that seemed to go on forever. Nico pulled out a map, geez this guy had spent so much time down here that he made a map! That guy really needs friends. "So where do we go from here Nico?" Emma asked and Nico pointed at the castle," That, is where we're going. But they'll be expecting us to walk right up to the fort door, so we'll have to go the long way."

I scratched my head," Long way as in one hour detour, or like four days detour?"" Normally it'd take you thirty minutes to get there; we have to take the long way. This will take us around a day or so depending on how good our luck is." _I frowned; big, dark, hot, smelly, and scary places were not my thing. Taking longer to make it through big, dark, hot, smelly, and scary places didn't make me happy._

"Let's get this over with then." I told Nico, and he led the way Emma looked a little nervous," What's wrong Em?" she looked around as if she were claustrophobic," I don't like the dark." I smiled and let a small flame dance across my palm," Is this better?" she nodded and I was holding her hand. The one time Nico turned he saw us holding hands and the look he was giving us could have burned a hole straight through me.

Finally after what seemed hours Nico stopped," We need to stop. It isn't good to travel at night, my dad probably isn't happy with me either so we better keep somebody should keep watch." Emma looked exhausted and was breathing heavily," I don't feel so good." She rubbed her temples, and saw I was looking at her with concern," Oh it's nothing, probably just a headache."

She pulled out a blanket and set it on the ground, then curled up and went to sleep. I could tell something was wrong, "Nico do you have any idea what's going on with her?" Nico face became grim, as if he knew what was wrong and it wasn't good," Leo we need to get this quest over with as fast as possible." I stepped closer to him," Why?" Nico sighed," The Underworld sucks the light out of everything. This means Emma."

I sat down," Why did you make us go the long way then!" he said calmly," Believe me; you'll thank me for this in the long run." I felt my hands burst into flames," If you're right Emma might not be here in the long run!" I jumped up, for a long time the son of Hades scared me now I wanted to sucker punch him," You knew she might die before we came here and you said nothing!"

Nico didn't back down," She's vital to this quest and if you'd known you wouldn't have let her come." I felt anger pour out of me like a river," Yeah you're right, because I can't lose her! I mean sure there are other of girls but there will **NEVER** be another Emma Rose!" Emma shifted, and I told him with my voice low and scarier than it had ever been in my life," If she dies, it's on your head."

I turned and pulled out some stuff from my tool belt to keep my hands from bursting into flames again. I needed something to do, to keep me from thinking the worst. Eventually I curled up near her and fell asleep.

Chapter 22, Emma

When I woke up I sat up and tied to open my eyes, but everything was black. "Leo?" I asked feeling around but all I felt was the ground, I pinched myself frantically hoping it I was a dream," Leo!" I shouted, and this time I felt his arms around me," What's wrong Emma?" I felt my breathing speed up," Leo I can't see."

Leo held me tighter," Oh gods…" I bit my lip," Leo you don't know about the prophecy, but it said that that one of us won't make it back…"" No Emma, you aren't going to die. When we get back to camp we'll find some way to get you better." I heard Nico," We better get moving; I also wanted to go this way for another reason." I could imagine Leo giving Nico the, "Well get on with it then." Look; and Nico told us," Elysium."

Leo helped me up, and tried to help me walk as much as he could and he stopped," Emma I think that's my mom." He lightly set me down and I heard his mom (or what I was assuming his mom's voice) said," Leo, you've gotten so tall." Nico told Leo," Don't pass over the threshold."" Mom, I'm so sorry." Then his mom replied in a lighter tone," Don't apologize, if that hadn't of happened then you never could've saved the world."

Someone picked me up," Emma, someone's here to see you." I sighed, and a very familiar voice said," Hey sunny." Only one person ever called me that," Liza." I pushed Nico off of me and stumbled over to her voice, Nico pulled me back, I wanted badly to forget Nico's warning and go see my sister," Liza where's mom?" Liza's voice became sad," Nobody told you didn't they?"" Tell me what…"

Liza explained," After you dropped into that coma mom started drinking and taking it out on me. One night she told me to get into the car and that's when we crashed. After that she went into jail and died there shortly after, I died of the injures." This news hit me like a bomb," What no; mom wouldn't."

Nico said to Leo and I," We have to go. Come on." I silently said goodbye to Liza and the mom I used to know. Leo was oddly silent; well I guess I couldn't blame him. It'd shaken me up quite a bit too." We'll be there I around an hour." Nico told and suddenly a stabbing headache hit me, I crumpled to the ground clutching my skull and Leo yelled," Where's the ambrosia?!"

Leo gently lifted me so he could feed me but eve this simple task sent a wave of nausea over me, and then I tasted something that was like the lemonade Liza used to make for me. Leo whispered," Are you feeling better?" I nodded but the truth was that only dulled the pain and I heard a roar come for something that couldn't have been human. "MINOTAUR!" yelled Nico and Leo pulled me into his arms and we started running.

Nico told Leo to go into a cave that he used to use if there was something that wasn't so friendly to him. Leo laid me down," Leo if I don't make it-"" No you are not leaving me; you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. You're not going to say your goodbyes, not here, not now."

I felt like I did when I first came into Camp Half-Blood, only this time I knew I was going to die." I'm sorry Emma." I felt him lightly kiss my forehead and he held onto my hand, and I said in the general direction that I last heard Nico's voice," Nico, take Leo and go kick Hades butt for me." Nico replied me," Okay…and I'm sorry for the fight we had…"

Before the light slipped away I imagined Leo's smile and the first time we met. I hoped when I died I died with a smile.

Chapter 23, Leo

I felt Emma's hand slip away from mine and I looked at her, "Emma! No please don't go!" Her previously green eyes were gray and for some reason she was smiling," Emma…" I said and I felt tears welling up, then anger boiled up inside of me. This was Nico's fault he knew that she'd died and didn't lift a finger!

Nico sat down," Come on Leo-"" I'm not leaving her! She can't be dead." I pushed Nico," How could you just let her die?!" Nico's face was tight with pain," This had to happen!" I screamed at him not caring if every gods forsaken monster heard me," What because of the stupid prophecy?!" Nico said quieter," No, because it's my fate."

My face came up blank," What?" he knelt next to Emma, "Children of Pluto or Hades can make a soul exchange, but the thing is I'd have to give up my soul." I said," Wait a second-" "Leo I've already seen my fate. It has to be this way." He pulled out the map," I figured after I'm gone you wouldn't be able to find your way to the castle so I made a map," he handed it to me," Take care of Emma for me."

I shook his hand," Sorry about all of the things I got mad at you about." He shrugged," I've gotten used to people not accepting me, part of being a son of the god of the dead." I think I finally (somewhat) understood Nico, deep down he was just a lonely kid who's always been misunderstood." Have fun in Elysium." I said and Nico nodded, then he started chanting and he seemed to be growing weaker but his voice was still strong.

At the same time Emma seemed to become brighter, and suddenly Nico collapsed. Emma weakly got up," Leo?" she looked over and saw Nico breathing heavily," Hey Em." He whispered and Emma looked suddenly awake," Nico! My gods what did you do?" Nico managed a smile," Apparently a lot." He reached up and rested his had on her cheek," Have a good life Emma…" Those were the last words Nico di Angelo said before he died.

A tear trickled down Emma's face, and she gently laid his hand down," Let's go Leo…" I laced my fingers between hers and I murmured," That was his choice, of course I wanted you back but forcing him into that but that wouldn't have been me." She nodded and a blinding light appeared at the end of the cave.

"Hello Leo Valdez and Emma Rose." I had to squint to look at him and I asked," Who are you?" The man or as I was taking a closer look, looked like an angel…literally," My name is Thantos." Oh yeah Piper told me about this guy, he was the dude that collected the souls of dead people.

He looked at Nico," Hades is not going to be happy." In response the ground shook and I heard a roar that was not the Minotaur's, I nervously laughed," Well I guess he found out." Thantos sighed and picked Nico up easily Emma said with tears rolling down her face," Can you take his body to camp, and tell everyone what had happened?"

Thantos looked at her with pity," I can." With that he disappeared and I pulled out the map," We've got a god to beat up, let's go." As we walked away I felt ashamed on how I'd always treated Nico di Angelo and now I could never take it back… I wondered what Emma was thinking because her face was tight with pain," What's wrong Emma?"

She avoided my gaze," I'm just thinking about the first time I saw him. It was when you went to go distract the Fury; the shadows almost seemed to hide him. I knew from the first time I he spoke that he had probably had something life changing happen to him. We were sparring partners one day and I'd tried talking to him, he told me to go away. Then the next time I saw him…that's when we became friends."

I think she didn't want to tell me the details and I perfectly fine with that and then I didn't really want to talk either. Between talking to my mom and Nico dying… well it had been pretty hard. My mom it was so nice just seeing her, she looked exactly like how I remembered her. Only now she didn't have grease stains and she seemed oddly more alive.

Tears filled in my eyes, when I had to leave her I didn't want to. I wanted to bring her back and then I knew she wouldn't want that, it would be like Frankenstein. But she put her hand out over the threshold just before I had to leave and I tapped the mores code for I love you, on her hand.

I pulled out the map and saw we were right on the boarders of Tarturas; just looking at it was like a horror movie. Monsters erupted out of the ground, great black clouds rolled over head, screaming filled the air with shrieks, and a river of liquid fire was in the distance. I can't believe Nico survived it!

I put the map away and pulled Emma away from the edge, which just so happed to be a cliff. "Let's go the map said that we aren't too far from the castle." She nodded and her bow appeared in her hands and her sheath of arrows on her back, "Are you feeling okay?" she nodded," I think Nico's _sacrifice _left me with what almost feels like a shield."

_Sacrifice that word hung in the air. To me before sacrifice meant giving up something, it was an evil word. Now the word made sense to me, it means giving up something for a higher cause. Nico gave up his life for Emma, for a reason I don't know. I wondered that even if he hadn't had seen his fate would he still do it._

We got to the back door; no literally there was a huge door that had a sign that said," _The Back Entrance to Hades Castle_". I squeezed Emma's hand," Are you ready." Her eyes had a sort of fire in them that I'd never seen before," Oh yeah."

We walked up and a skeleton elevated out of the ground," Halt!" then he said with a look of surprise (not sure how a skeleton managed that), and he stood as to let us pass," A part of the ghost king lies in the girl, so you two may pass." I smiled "That was easier than I thought it would be."

After walking through a maze of dark and depressing hallways we found what I was using to be the throne room, "Where do you think Hades is?" asked Emma, and I shrugged, and a voice said," Hades is right here." A shadow seemed to spit him out and he asked, anger clearly in his voice," What happened to my son?" Emma stepped forward and spat," Why do you care? If it weren't for you we never would've had to come down to this hell and he wouldn't have died?!"

I put my hand on her shoulder," Uh…Emma let's try not to upset the god of the dead." Hades looked confused," What do you mean if it weren't for me?" Emma sighed in frustration, "Fine you want to play dumb? Monsters don't die and you just so happen to be the lord of the dead, we've verified that it isn't the Doors of Death, and most of the monsters that attack us have been monsters that are mostly found in the Underworld. Now are you starting to remember?"

I'd never seen Emma angry and I certainly never want to again that girl can be scary, I'm glad I'm on her good side.

Hades crossed his arms," That couldn't have been me all I remember is going to sleep last night and then waking up and my kingdom was in chaos. Persephone told me that the gods had done it…" I realized that Hades was telling the truth," Wait something's wrong Emma, you said that Persephone told you that the gods did this?" Hades nodded and I asked a rather weird question," What day did you go to sleep?"

Hades said," June 16th, why do you ask?" Emma looked at me," That was the two weeks ago." Hades looked confused and then he yelled," PERSEPHONE!" with a slight pop a woman appeared, she had long flowing hair and even though she must have looked pretty years ago, right now she reminded me of a washed out towel," Yes my lord." She said and Hades eyed her," What was in that drink you served me?"

I thought she was going to play dumb but she smiled evilly, "My plan is too far along for either of you to stop it so I might as well tell you." Uh-oh. "Well on June 16th I slipped a sleeping concoction into the drink, when you were asleep I told all of your most faithful monsters to launch an attack the mortal world. Now the gods will think you are trying to over throw them, and even your forces pail in comparison to theirs. You will die and I will be free."

So you've had to deal with Hades for a couple thousand years, deal with it chick. That's no reason to start a war! "Three word for you lady," I told her," You. Are. Crazy." Hades laughed," There's a flaw in your plan." Persephone frowned, "And what is that?" Hades smirked," I have persuasive friends." The a pomegranate appeared in his palm," From now on you have to spend three out of the four season here." I think Persephone would've preferred spending the rest of the eternity in Tarturas," No!"

Hades rolled his eyes," Thank you for helping me, I'll send you to the portal closest to your Camp. I need some tie to mourn my son." Emma smiled," Our work here is done." Hades snapped his fingers and a hole opened below us.

I do not like falling, even if I know I'm not going to get hurt, I don't like it. I hoped I wasn't screaming," I WANT MY MOMMY!" Emma smiled at the look on my face as we were falling and I mouthed through gritted teeth," Shut up." I closed my eyes and when I opened them Emma gently whispered, "Uh…Leo you can stop screaming." I stood up and brushed myself off," I knew that." Emma smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever.

I can't believe only about two weeks ago I didn't know who she was, and now look at us. It looked like we were in a park, and right behind us was a cave. I held Emma's hand and we set out walking, it turns out that this portal was in New York City. Talk about convenient!

Walking in the park holding hands with Emma was probably the first normal thing we've done in our relationship," Leo?" Emma asked me and I replied," Yup?" she laid her head on my shoulder," I love you." I smiled and shrugged," I already knew that, and I love you to."

_Before somebody meaningful comes along you use that phrase without caring. It's only when someone special comes along that those words get a meaning._

In the middle of the park there was a fountain, I had an idea," Hey Emma, do you have a drachma?" she pulled one out of her pocket, and I threw it into the fountains mist," Oh Iris goddess of the rainbow show me Chiron." The mist shimmered and then a Chiron, wearing a shirt that said," World's best Centaur!" appeared.

"Hey Chiron." I said and he turned," Leo!" Then he realized that one of the members of our former trio wasn't there," Leo, where's Nico?" I just shook my head," He gave up his life to save Emma." Chiron simply nodded and told us," I'll send Blackjack to you."

The mist shimmered and I sat on the fountain and Emma sighed, and her eyes were full of tears," I feel like I'm responsible for his death." I took her hand and looked at her, "Emma, he made his choice." I wrapped my arms around her and we waited there in silence.

Chapter 24, Emma

Nico's death hit me hard, and I couldn't help even now feeling responsible for his death. We got to camp and was welcomed back with a standing ovation, I managed a weak smile and that whole time I never let go of Leo's hand.

Percy asked me," Where's Nico?" Time for the hard part, "Follow me." I lead him, and a lot of other people (which was ironic because nobody would even want to talk about him, maybe all this time they secretly liked him.)

Finally after ages we reached the cave, I squeezed Leo's hand and I said," Nico died to save me, if it weren't for him I wouldn't be here." I saw Nico then, he was on a rock that wasn't there before with a case of what I didn't know. Hazel ran to the side," Nico…" Frank came behind he and held her, I cried and Leo embraced me, then a man stepped from behind Nico, "Hades." Percy said as he raised his sword, I stepped over to him and gently pushed it down," Percy is it so wrong for a father to morn his son's death?"

Percy frowned, but lowered his sword Hades looked around the cave as if analyzing all the people in here," I have a question for everyone in here, if all of you came here today when he was dead then why didn't you come to him when he was living?" Nobody answered, I said," Nico didn't really want to be friends with anyone; I had to try really hard to get him to even let me talk to him. That and most of the people got creeped out by him." Everyone shuffled nervously," Well don't deny it, it was as plain the nose on your face that you didn't want to talk to him."

Hades tapped the ground," I will give you a choice, I can bring back Nico if there are going to be more people like her," he pointed to me," or he can stay dead." Everyone started look around, until Leo said," I chose to bring back Nico." I held his hand," Same here." Hazel stood up," Yes." So did Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and at least more than half the other kids.

Hades smiled and Clarise asked," Isn't this against some ancient rule or something?" Hades shrugged," Being the god of the dead does have a few perks." He touched the dome covering Nico and it melted into the ground, the he chanted short ancient Greek phrase and Nico sat up gasping, then he looked around and then down at himself," Aw come, you couldn't wait bring me back to life until the end of my Ping-Pong match with George Washington?"

Yup that was Nico, I smiled and Percy said," Well I think this calls for a celebration!" We headed back to the Dining Pavilion and Leo stopped," What is it?" Leo face palmed himself, "I forgot about Calypso!" He pulled out a drachma and threw it into the water he said what he wanted to see but a voice said, "I'm sorry but that request doesn't exist." He sat down," That means she's either on her island or…" I patted him and left because first off this seemed like a problem I didn't understand, and I seemed like he needed some time alone.

When I got to the Dining Pavilion, which was now in full on party mode I saw Piper in the corner," "Thanks for talking to Jason for me." She told me and I smiled," No problem, has he Iris messaged you?" she shook her head and suddenly a boy flew down and said," Sorry I'm late!" The boy was Jason. Piper's eyes widened, and she bit her lip, Jason walked over to her, "Sorry Piper, the Iris message doesn't really work at Camp."

She stood up, "What did you need to say?" Jason stretched, "Well for starters Reyna broke up with me, and I realized that I liked her but not like that. I still love you, and I'm so sorry for breaking up with you." I didn't want to intrude in their business, so I chose that time to walk away.

For the first time probably in forever Nico was surrounded by a crowd and when he saw me he manage to wriggle out of it, "Hey Emma." I smiled," Hey Nico, so how are you adjusting to the crowd?" He laughed, "It's way different then what I'm used to." I laughed and said a little quieter, "Look Nico I don't want our friendship to be-" Nico held up a hand "Don't worry about it, I don't like you like that anymore. Besides there's a new Ares demigod in camp." I laughed and told him," You're finally becoming a normal teenager." Nico frowned and crossed his arms," I'm a demigod; I'll never be a normal teenager." "You know what I mean."

Leo ran in and sighed," Emma, I have an idea." I smiled, "What is it?" Leo smiled that crazy grin that I knew so well, "At the end of the summer, we leave camp and o around the world looking for demigods and killing monsters!" I thought about it for a second and I replied, "I don't care what we do as long as I'm by your side."

_My life had changed so much in the past two weeks, and so much had happened. But all in all, I was glad it happened because I made lifelong friends and lifelong memories. Most of all I was happy that I'd met Leo, he showed me love and kindness, and I had a feeling that my journey was far from over, but at least now I had him by my side._

23


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